Runners & Litter (Gel Wrappers!)

jb-ski

It’s that nice time of year again when the canal paths and trails get busier with runners.

Can I appeal (to the minority) to bring your Gel wrappers (and to a lesser extent plastic bottles) home or to nearest bin.

I generally run the Royal canal (Maynooth-Leixlip-Lucan-Clonsilla), grounds of Castletown House + Carton House etc so don’t know if this is an issue anywhere else.

A typical long run scenario; meet & greet 5-10 runners over 2/3 hours, spot shiny gel wrapper and wonder which of the ignorant a**eh*les I met dropped it!

Good luck with spring training and remember you are representing the wider running community.

ThisRegard

This is something I mentioned on another thread last year, a few of my routes became littered with runners debris and the Phoenix Park gets particularly bad around the times of races that are held there.

nerraw1111

The Phoenix Park is particularly bad for this nonsense. Really annoys me as its so easy to tuck the wrapper into your shorts.

robinph

Had never really noticed them much myself on my usual routes, but I'd always stick the empty gel packets back in another pocket of my Camelbak and take them home.

I will admit to dropping them on the road during races, but only beside drink stations and usually actually stuffed inside the empty cup that I'm also dropping at the same time if possible.

average_runner

During races I do drop mine on the road but close to water stations.


In phoenix park I will pocket them and leave them in the car.


But it be no harm if the park did have some more bins around the s bends etc as its not that much to ask for.

A bit a help by both parties and issues be solved quickly I would think

ThisRegard

You don't need help to stick a gel wrapper in a small pocket, lack of bins is not an excuse for people to throw away their rubbish. Most people who train in the park probably drive there so all they have to do is carry it back to their cars and dispose of it once home.

donothoponpop

When oh when will Wicklow County Council get off their arses and start installing rubbish bins along off-road mountainous imra routes, so that gel- and isodrink- starved runners won't be forced to litter the trails with their empty packets. A dedicated service road up Lugnachoille could be built to allow garbage trucks access to empty said bins. I picked up an armful of plastic bottles after last years Powerscourt uphill (that weren't there as I ran up)- surely Djouce could be improved by a large plastic bottle recycling unit on its summit?

Because surely people who litter in the wilderness are beyond accountability?

TheRoadRunner

I actually always thought runners were quite good with rubbish but maybe that's just the model and upstanding citizens I tend to run with.

The scarcity of bins in the phoenix park is a pain and has resulted in me carrying empty water bottles for over 3 miles in the past.

RoyMcC

donothoponpop wrote: »

Because surely people who litter in the wilderness are beyond accountability?

Can't understand it. Not that I get into the wilderness much but I've been horrified whilst racing in Connemara. Why would you pay to run in one of the most beautiful places in Ireland and then hurl your empty plastic bottles over the ditch into a field? The organisers must be picking them up for weeks afterwards. At least leave them by the roadside where they can be found :mad:

hollypink

I think there are few litter bins in the Phoenix Park because the OPW want to encourage people to take their rubbish home, as they see bins as requiring frequent servicing, becoming places for dumping (I suppose like the litter you see beside some recycling bins) and also targets for vandalism and burning. I wouldn't have thought the vandalism would be a problem until there were bins put in at the bus stops in my estate and they were both, on separate occasions, set on fire and had to be removed. Depressing really.

RacoonQueen

RoyMcC wrote: »

Can't understand it. Not that I get into the wilderness much but I've been horrified whilst racing in Connemara. Why would you pay to run in one of the most beautiful places in Ireland and then hurl your empty plastic bottles over the ditch into a field? The organisers must be picking them up for weeks afterwards. At least leave them by the roadside where they can be found :mad:

Last year, while pacing in Enniscorthy, myself and gohard.. were giving out about people throwing their bottles over walls. What happens about 5 seconds later? Yeah, someone we were pacing throws their bottle over a wall. :rolleyes:

Why over walls? Just throw them on the road where they can be picked up if they're spotted. And it takes more energy to throw it over a wall...

sconhome

Methinks- Public bins are scarce probably because of bin charges! Rather than pay for a tag people would stuff the litter bins full of domestic rubbish.

No excuse for littering. Most of us start a run or bike with gels, snacks etc tucked into shorts surely it is easier to carry the lighter empty packages home with you too!

I feel guilty dropping the cups / bottles from a water station at the side of the road and always try and group them with others. Just an aversion to litter!

aero2k

amphkingwest wrote: »

No excuse for littering. Most of us start a run or bike with gels, snacks etc tucked into shorts surely it is easier to carry the lighter empty packages home with you too!

This^exactly.

Yes, there could be more bins in the Phoenix Park, and they'd be used by people like TheRoadRunner who hang on to their rubbish until they find a bin - the litter louts will do as they've always done. There's some excuse in a race, but none whatsoever for all the gel wrappers I see on the trails far away from the roads.

(This is a pet peeve - I live beside a bus stop which has a bin but for some reason people prefer to use my garden for their rubbish:mad:)

ger664

Its your litter its your responsibility.

I can never buy the argument of if council do not supply a bin it gives us the right to chuck it on the side of the road. You go to a beach and bring a picnic, ring joe duffy on Monday cause there was nowhere to dump your rubbish and you had to litter the beach Bring it home its your rubbish

[rant]Also runners. Most of us here complain about not getting bottled water at water stations in races yet 50m to 100m after each station the road/margin/field is littered with discarded half full bottles of water.[/rant]

jb-ski

it's that time of year again.

Sunday morning, Tubber Lane,Lucan, nice fresh High 5 wrapper in middle of road; Canal path, between Lucan -Leixlip another one.

Was with WK, and we met loads of other runners who obviously did NOT drop litter, but to the 1 or 2 who did, please, please bring your fcuking rubbish home or bin it.

so that's off my chest again until LSR time again next spring!

Stark

donothoponpop wrote: »

A dedicated service road up Lugnachoille could be built to allow garbage trucks access to empty said bins. I picked up an armful of plastic bottles after last years Powerscourt uphill (that weren't there as I ran up)- surely Djouce could be improved by a large plastic bottle recycling unit on its summit?

Get onto Mountain Meitheal about it.

ThisRegard

I noticed myself lots of wrappers around the Phoenix Park over the weekend too, wasters.

DublinDilbert

RacoonQueen wrote: »

Last year, while pacing in Enniscorthy, myself and gohard.. were giving out about people throwing their bottles over walls. What happens about 5 seconds later? Yeah, someone we were pacing throws their bottle over a wall. :rolleyes:

Why over walls? Just throw them on the road where they can be picked up if they're spotted. And it takes more energy to throw it over a wall...

+1

Saw lots of people doing it the waterford half last jan, just couldn't understand it at all.

lol, This thread has just reminded me that i have a Gel rapper in the back pocket of my shorts from my LSR at the weekend, should be fun when it comes time to wash them!!

umpire bat

Crows create havoc in the early morning raining bins....and people dumping domestic waste in street bins are why places like the canal and Phoenix Park are short on bins. One of the tidiest villages in Ireland, Moynalty on the Meath/Cavan border has had no litter bins in recent years and is spick and span. Tidyness and consideration for the wider community is a mindset. civic pride should be instilled from home and school......

average_runner

In fairness these villages are smaller than the Phoenix Park and also have a smaller population than what attends the Phoenix Park Daily.


I bring my own litter to my car in the park and dump it at home, but as i said before the lack of bins is an issue.


But bins can create illegal dumping also, so hard one to call.

red face dave

I run the route that the midlands half marathon was ran on lately. I was shocked to see the amount of gels and water bottles that were just thrown on the ground. Ran the same route today and there is still litter around surely someone from the marathon should have a least picked some of the rubbish up at this stage its two weeks later. What's wrong with the putting the gel back in your pocket.

ultraman1

red face dave wrote: »

surely someone from the marathon should have a least picked some of the rubbish

no connection with this race,but usually,and i stand to be corrected,if the organiser got permission off the council for the race,he may have put up the money for the council to collect, and they havent collected it..has happened twice in other races to my knowledge...

red face dave

Alright, Not to surprised then at the amount of plastic bottles out the Stradbally Road. The council would be only to happy for the money but might never clean them up.

Midlands Half Marathon

Just saw this post the latest post about the rubbish still left after our race. Very sorry about this, it's not the council's fault, we'll take full responsibility. We had paid someone to cover the clean-up here, but obviously the job wasn't done.

I'm away at the moment, but hope to make it out Tuesday to start collecting the rubbish myself.

Red face dave, thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Again....sorry.

red face dave

Fair play to you. I will be out that way in the morning I will confirm if litter is still there.